The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare

Bard. And of women.

Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death; Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter,

His princes and his peers to servitude,
His subjects to oppression and contempt,
And his whole kingdom unto desolation.
Touching our person, seek we no revenge;
But we our kingdom's safety must so tender,
Whose ruin you three sought, that to her laws
We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence,
Poor miserable wretches, to your death:
The taste whereof, God, of his mercy, give you
Patience to endure, and true repentance
Of all your dear offences!-Bear them hence.
[Exeunt Conspirators, guarded.
Now, lords, for France; the enterprize whereof
Shall be to you, as us, like glorious.
We doubt not of a fair and lucky war;
Since God so graciously hath brought to light
This dangerous treason lurking in our way,
To hinder our beginnings, we doubt not now,
But every rub is smoothed on our way.
Then, forth, dear countrymen; let us deliver
Our puissance into the hand of God,
Putting it straight in expedition.
Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance:
No king of England, if not king of France.

[Exeunt. SCENE III.-London.—Mrs. QUICKLY'S House in Eastcheap.

Enter PISTOL, Mrs. QUICKLY, NYM, BARDOLPH, and Boy.

Quick. Pr'ythee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines.

Pist. No; for my manly heart doth yearn.†— Bardolph, be blithe;-Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins;

Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaff he is And we must yearn therefore. [dead, Bard. 'Would, I were with him, wheresome'er he is, either in heaven, or in hell!

Quick. Nay, sure, he's not in hell; he's in Arthur's bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. 'A made a finer end, and went away, an it had been any christom child; 'a parted even just between twelve and one, e'en at turning o'the tide for after I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and smile upon his fingers' ends, I knew there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and 'a babbled of green fields. How now, Sir John? quoth I: what, man! be of good cheer. So 'a cried out-God, God, God! three or four times: now I, to comfort him, bid him, 'a should not think of God; I hoped, there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet: So, 'a bade me lay more clothes on his feet: I put my hand into the bed, and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone; then I felt to his knees, and so upward, and upward, and all was as cold as any stone. Nym. They say, he cried out of sack, Quick. Ay, that 'a did.

* Attend.

† Grieve

A child not more than a month old.

Quick. Nay, that 'a did not.

Boy. Yes, that 'a did; and said, they were devils incarnate.

Quick. 'A could never abide carnation; 'twas a colour he never liked.

Boy. 'A said once, the devil would have him about women.

Quick. 'A did in some sort, indeed, handle women: but then he was rheumatic;* and talked of the whore of Babylon.

Boy. Do you not remember, 'a saw a flea stick upo Bardolph's nose; and 'a said, it was a black soul burning in hell-fire?

Bard. Well, the fuel is gone, that maintained that fire: that's all the riches I got in his service. Nym. Shall we shog off? the king will be gone from Southampton.

Pist. Come, let's away.-My love, give me thy lips.

Look to my chattels, and my moveables:
Let senses rule; the word is, Pitch and Pay;
Trust none;
[cakes,
For oaths are straws, men's faiths are wafer-
And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck;
Therefore caveto be thy counsellor.

Go, clear thy crystals.†-Yoke-fellows in arms,
Let us to France! like horse-leeches, my boys;
To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck!
Boy. And that is but unwholesome food, they

SCENE IV.-France.-A Room in the French King's Palace.

Enter the FRENCH KING, attended; the DauPHIN, the Duke of BURGUNDY, the CONSTABLE, and others.

Fr. King. Thus come the English with full power upon us;

And more than carefully it us concerns,
To answer royally in our defences.
Therefore the dukes of Berry, and of Bretagne,
Of Brabant, and of Orleans, shall make forth,—
And you, prince Dauphin,-with all swift de-
spatch,

To line, and new repair, our towns of war,
With men of courage, and with means defendant:
For England his approaches makes as fierce,
As waters to the sucking of a gulph.
It fits us then, to be as provident
As fear may teach us, out of late examples
Left by the fatal and neglected English
Upon our fields.

Dau. My most redoubted father, It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe: For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom, (Though war, nor no known quarrel, were in question,)

But that defences, musters, preparations,
Should be maintained, assembled, and collected,
As were a war in expectation.

Therefore, I say, 'tis meet we all go forth,
To view the sick and feeble parts of France:
And let us do it with no show of fear;

Mrs. Quickly means lunatic.
Render it callous, insensible.

+ Dry thy eyes

No, with no more, than if we heard that England
Were busied with a Whitsun morris-dance:
For, my good liege, she is so idly king'd,
Her sceptre so fantastically borne

By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth,
That fear attends her not.

Con. O peace, prince Dauphin!
You are too much mistaken in this king:
Question your grace the late ambassadors,-
With what great state he heard their embassy,
How well supplied with noble counsellors,
How modest in exception,* and, withal,
How terrible in constant resolution,-
And you shall find, his vanities fore-spentt
Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus,
Covering discretion with a coat of folly;
As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots
That shall first spring, and be most delicate.
Dau. Well, 'tis not so, my lord high constable,
But though we think it so, it is no matter:
In cases of defence, 'tis best to weigh
The enemy more mighty than he seems,
So the proportions of defence are fill'd;
Which, of a weak and niggardly projection,
Doth, like a miser, spoil his coat, with scanting
A little cloth.

Fr. King. Think we king Harry strong;
And, princes, look, you strongly arm to meet
him.

The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us;
And he is bred out of that bloody strain,
That haunted us in our familiar paths:
Witness our too much memorable shame,
When Cressy battle fatally was struck,
And all our princes captiv'd, by the hand

The borrow'd glories, that, by gift of heaven,
By law of nature, and of nations, 'long
To him, and to his heirs; namely the crown,
And all wide-stretched honours that pertain,
By custom and the ordinance of times,
Unto the crown of France. That you may know,
'Tis no sinister, nor no awkward claim,
Pick'd from the worm-holes of long-vanish'd days,
Nor from the dust of old oblivion rak'd,
He sends you this most memorable line,

Even in your hearts, there will he rake for it:
And therefore in fierce tempest is he coming,
In thunder, and in earthquake, like a Jove;
(That, if requiring fail, he will compel ;)
And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord,
Deliver up the crown; and to take mercy
On the poor souls, for whom this hungry war
Opens his vasty jaws: and on your head
Turns he the widows' tears, the orphans' cries,
The dead men's blood, the pining maidens' groans,
For husbands, fathers, and betrothed lovers,
That shall be swallow'd in this controversy.
This is his claim, his threatening, and my mes-
sage;

Of that black name, Edward black prince of Unless the Dauphin be in presence here,

Wales;

Whiles that his mountain sire,-on mountain

standing,

Up in the air, crown'd with the golden sun,-
Saw his heroical seed, and smil'd to see him
Mangle the work of nature, and deface
The patterns that by God and by French fathers
Had twenty years been made. This is a stem
Of that victorious stock; and let us fear
The native mightiness and fate of him.

Enter a MESSENGER.

To whom expressly I bring greeting too.

Fr. King. For us, we will consider of this fur

ther:

To-morrow shall you bear our full intent
Back to our brother England.

Dau. For the Dauphin,

I stand here for him; What to him from England?

Exe. Scorn, and defiance; slight regard, con-
tempt,

And any thing that may not misbecome
The mighty sender, doth he prize you at.

Mess. Ambassadors from Henry King of Eng-Thus says my king: and, if your father's high

land

Do crave admittance to your majesty.
Fr. King. We'll give them present audience.
Go, and bring them.

[Exeunt MESS. and certain LORDS. You see, this chase is hotly follow'd, friends. Dau. Turn head, and stop pursuit: for coward dogs

Most spend their mouths, when what they seem
to threaten

Runs far before them. Good my sovereign,
Take up the English short; and let them know
Of what a monarchy you are the head:
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin
As self-neglecting.

Re-enter LORDS, with EXETER and Train.

Fr. King. From our brother England?
Exe. From him; and thus he greets your ma-
jesty.

He wills you, in the name of God Almighty,
That you divest yourself, and lay apart

* In making objections. † Wasted, exhausted.
+ Lineage.

ness

Do not, in grant of all demands at large,
Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his majesty,
He'll call you to so hot an answer for it,
That caves and womby vaultages of France
Shall chide your trespass, and return your
In second accent of his ordnance.
[mock

Dau. Say, if my father render fair reply,
It is against my will: for I desire
Nothing but odds with England; to that end,
As matching to his youth and vanity,
I did present him with those Paris balls.

Exe. He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for
it,
Were it the mistress court of mighty Europe:
And, be assur'd, you'll find a difference,
(As we, his subjects, have in wonder found,)
Between the promise of his greener days,
And these he masters now; now he weighs

time,

Even to the utmost grain; which you shall read
In your own losses, if he stay in France.
Fr. King. To-morrow shall you know our
mind at full.

* Resound, echo.

Exe. Despatch us with all speed, lest that our Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm king

Come here himself to question our delay;
For he is footed in this land already.

Fr. King. You shall be soon despatch'd, with fair conditions:

A night is but small breath, and little pause,
To answer matters of this consequence.

ACT III. Enter CHORUS.

[Exeunt.

Chor. Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies,

In motion of no less celerity
[seen
Than that of thought. Suppose, that you have
The well-appointed king at Hampton pier
Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet [ning.
With silken streamers the young Phoebus fan-
Play with your fancies; and in them behold,
Upon the hempen tackle, ship-boys climbing:
Hear the shrill whistle, which doth order give
To sounds confus'd: behold the threaden sails,
Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd

sea,

Breasting the lofty surge: 0, do but think,
You stand upon the rivage, and behold
A city on the inconstant billows dancing;
For so appears this fleet majestical, [low!
Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, fol-
Grapple your minds to sternage+ of this navy;
And leave your England, as dead midnight still,
Guarded with grandsires, babies, and old women,
Either past, or not arriv'd to, pith and puissance;
For who is he, whose chin is but enrich'd
With one appearing hair, that will not follow
These cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to
France?

[it,

As fearfully, as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confoundedt base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril
wide;

Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit
To his full height!-On, on, you noblest En-

glish,

Whose blood is fett from fathers of war-proof! Fathers, that, like so many Alexanders,

Have, in these parts, from morn till even And sheath'd their swords for lack of argufought,

ment,

That those, whom you call'd fathers did beget Dishonour not your mothers; now attest,

you!

yeomen,

Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war!-And you, good
[here
Whose limbs were made in England, show us
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding: which I
For there is none of you so mean and base,
doubt not;
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot;
Follow your spirit: and, upon this charge,
and Saint
Cry-God for Harry! England!
George!

[Exeunt. Alarum, and Chambers go off.

SCENE II-the same.

Forces pass over; then enter NYM, BARDOLPH, PISTOL, and Boy.

Bard. On, on, on, on, on! to the breach, to

Work, work, your thoughts, and therein see a the breach!"

siege:

Behold the ordnance on their carriages,
With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur.
Suppose, the ambassador from the French comes

back;

Tells Harry-that the king doth offer him
Katharine his daughter; and with her, to dowry,
Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms.
The offer likes not: and the nimble gunner
With linstock now the devilish cannon touches.

[Alarum; and Chambers) go off. And down goes all before them. Still be kind, And eke out our performance with your mind. [Exit.

SCENE I.-The same. -Before Harfleur. Alarums. Enter King HENRY EXETER, BEDFORD, GLOSTER, and Soldiers with Scaling Ladders.

K. Hen. Once more unto the breach, dear

friends, once more;

Or close the wall up with our English dead!
In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man,
As modest stillness, and humility;

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage:
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let it pry through the portage of the head,

Nym. 'Pray thee, corporal, stay; the knocks are too hot; and, for mine own part, I have not a case of lives: the humour of it is too hot, that is the very plain-song of it.

Pist. the plain-song is most just; for humours do abound;

[die; Knocks go and come; God's vassals drop and And sword and shield,

In bloody field,

Doth win immortal fame.

Boy. 'Would I were in an alehouse in London! I would give all my fame for a pot of ale, and safety. Pist. And I:

If wishes would prevail with me, My purpose should not fail with me, But thither would I hie. Boy. As duly, but not as truly, as bird doth sing on bough.

Enter FLUELLEN.

Flu. Got's blood!-Up to the preaches, you rascals! will you not up to the preaches? [Driving them forward. Pist. Be merciful, great duke to men of mould!¶

Abate thy rage, abate thy manly rage!
Abate thy rage, great duke!

Good bawcock, bate thy rage! use lenity, sweet chuck!

Nym. These be good humours!—your honour wins bad humours.

[Exeunt NYM, PISTOL, and Bardolph,
followed by Fluellen.

Gow. How, now, captain Macmorris? have you quit the mines? have the pioneers given o'er? Mac. By Chrish la, tish ill done: the work ish give over, the trumpet sound the retreat. By my hand I swear, and by my father's soul, the work ish ill done; it ish give over: I would have blowed up the town, so Chrish save me, la, in an hour. O, tish ill done, tish ill done; by my hand, tish ill done!

Boy. As young as I am, I have observed three swashers. I am boy to them all three: but all they three, though they would serve me, could not be man to me; for, indeed, three such antics do not amount to a man. For Bardolph,-he is white-livered, and red-faced; by the means Flu. Captain Macmorris, I peseech you now, whereof, 'a faces it out, but fights not. For Pis- will you voutsafe me, look you, a few disputations tol, he hath a killing tongue, and a quiet sword; with you, as partly touching or concerning the by the means whereof 'a breaks words, and keeps disciplines of the war, the Roman wars, in the whole weapons. For Nym, he hath heard, that way of argument, look you, and friendly commumen of few words are the best men; and there-nication; partly, to satisfy my opinion, and partly, fore he scorns to say his prayers, lest 'a should be for the satisfaction, look you, of my mind, as thought a coward: but his few bad words are touching the direction of the military discipline; matched with as few good deeds; for 'a never that is the point. broke any man's head but his own; and that was against a post, when he was drunk. They will steal any thing, and call it,-purchase. Bardolph stole a lute-case; bore it twelve leagues, and sold Mac. It is no time to discourse, so Chrish save it for three halfpence. Nym, and Bardolph, are me, the day is hot, and the weather, and the sworn brothers in filching; and in Calais they wars, and the king, and the dukes; it is no stole a fire-shovel: I knew, by that piece of ser- time to discourse. The town is beseeched, and vice, the men would carry coals. They would the trumpet calls us to the breach; and we talk, have me as familiar with men's pockets, as their and, by Chrish, do nothing; 'tis shame for us all gloves or their handkerchiefs: which makes much so God sa', me, 'tis shame to stand still; it is against my manhood, if I should take from another's pocket, to put into mine; for it is plain pocketing up of wrongs. I must leave them, and seek some better service: their villany goes against my weak stomach, and therefore I must cast it up. Exit Box.

Re-enter FLUELLEN, GOWER following. Gow. Captain Fluellen, you must come presently to the mines; the duke of Gloster would speak with you.

Flu. To the mines! tell you the duke, it is not so good to come to the mines: For, look you, the mines is not according to the disciplines of the war; the concavities of it is not sufficient; for, look you, th'athversary (you may discuss unto the duke, look you,) is dight himself four yards under the countermines: by Cheshu, I think, 'a will plow up all, if there is not better directions. Gow. The duke of Gloster, to whom the order of the siege is given, is altogether directed by an Irishman, a very valiant gentleman, i'faith.

Flu. It is captain Maçmorris, is it not?
Gow. I think, it be.

Flu. By Cheshu, he is an ass, as in the 'orld: I will verify as much in his peard: he has no more directions in the true disciplines of the wars, look you, of the Roman disciplines, than is a puppy-dog.

Enter MACMORRIS and JAMY, at a distance. Gow. Here 'a comes; and the Scots captain, captain Jamy, with him.

Flu. Captain Jamy is a marvellous falorous gentleman, that is certain; and of great expedition, and knowledge, in the ancient wars, upon my particular knowledge of his directions by Cheshu, he will maintain his argument as well as any military man in the 'orld, in the disciplines of the pristine wars of the Romans.

Jamy. I say, gud-day, captain Fluellen.

Flu. God-den to your worship, goot captain Jamy.

* Bravest. † Pocket affronts. + Digged. » Blow.

Jamy. It sall be very gud, gud feith, gud captains baith: and I sall quit you with gud leve, as I may pick occasion; that sall I, marry.

shame, by my hand: and there is throats to be cut, and works to be done; and there ish nothing done, so Chrish sa' me, la.

Jamy. By the mess, ere theise eyes of mine tak themselves to slumber, aile do gude service, or aile ligge i'the grund for it; ay, or go to death; and aile pay it as valorously as I may, that sall I surely do, that is the breff and the long: Marry, I wad full fain heard some question, 'tween you tway.

Flu. Captain Macmorris, I think, look you, under your correction, there is not many of your nation

Mac. Of my nation? What ish my nation? ish a villain, and a bastard, and a knave, and a rascal? Who ish my nation? Who talks of my ua¬ tion?

Flu. Look you, if you take the matter otherwise than is meant, captain Macmorris, peradventure, I shall think you do not use me with that affability as in discretion you ought to use me, look you; being as goot a man as yourself, both in the disciplines of wars, and in the derivation of my birth, and in other particularities.

Mac. I do not know you so good a man as myself: so Chrish save me, I will cut off your head. Gow. Gentlemen both, you will mistake each other.

Jamy. Au! that's a foul fault.

[A parley sounded. Gow. The town sounds a parley. Flu. Captain Macmorris, when there is more better opportunity to be required, look you, I will be so bold as to tell you, I know the disci[Exeunt. plines of war; and there is an end. SCENE III.-The same. Before the Gates of Harfleur.

The GOVERNOR and some Citizens on the Walls; and English Forces below. Enter King HENRY and his Train.

K. Hen. How yet resolves the governor of the This is the latest parle we will admit. [town? Therefore, to our best mercy give yourselves :

*Requite, answer.

Or, like to men proud of destruction,
Defy us to our worst: for, as I am a soldier,
(A name, that, in my thoughts, becomes me best,)
If I begin the battery once again,

I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur.
Till in her ashes she lie buried.

The gates of mercy shall be all shut up;
And the flesh'd soldier,-rough and hard of
heart,-

In liberty of bloody hand, shall range

With conscience wide as hell; mowing like grass Your fresh-fair virgins, and your flowering in

fants.

What is it then to me, if impious war,—
Array'd in flames, like to the prince of fiends,-
Do, with his smirch'd* complexion, all fellt feats
Enlink'd to waste and desolation?

What is't to me when you yourselves are cause,
If your pure maidens fall into the hand
Of hot and forcing vlolation?

What rein can hold licentious wickedness,
When down the hill he holds his fierce career?
We may as bootless spread our vain command
Upon the enraged soldiers in their spoil,
As send precepts to the Leviathan

To come ashore. Therefore, you men of Harfleur,
Take pity of your town, and of your people,
Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command;
Whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace
O'erblows the filthy and contagious clouds
Of deadly murder, spoil, and villany.
If not, why, in a moment, look to see
The blind and bloody soldier with foul hand
Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daugh-
Your fathers taken by the silver beards, [ters;
And their most reverend heads dash'd to the
walls;

[fus'd

Your naked infants spitted upon pikes;
Whiles the mad mothers with their howls con-
Do break the clouds, as did the wives of Jewry
At Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen.
What say you? will you yield, and this avoid?
Or, guilty in defence, be thus destroy'd?

Gov. Our expectation hath this day an end:
The Dauphin, whom of succour we entreated,
Returns us-that his powers are not yet ready
To raise so great a siege. Therefore dread king,
We yield our town, and lives, to thy soft mercy:
Enter our gates; dispose of us, and ours;
For we no longer are defensible.

K. Hen. Open your gates.-Come, uncle

Exeter.

Go you and enter Harfleur; there remain,
And fortify it strongly 'gainst the French:
Use mercy to them all. For us, dear uncle,-
The winter coming on, and sickness growing
Upon our soldiers, we'll retire to Calais.
To-night in Harfleur will we be your guest:
To-morrow for the march are we addrest.

[Flourish. The king, &c. enter the Town.

SCENE IV-Roüen.-A Room in the Palace. Enter KATHARINE and ALICE.

Kath. Alice, tu as esté en Angleterre, et tu parles bien le language.

Alice. Un peu madame.

Kath. Je te prie, m'enseignez; il faut que j'apprenne à parler. Comment appellez vous la main, en Anglois?

Alice. La main? elle est appellée de hand.
Kath. De hand. Et les doigts?

Kath. De elbow. Je m'en fait la repetition de tous les mots, que vous m'avez appris dès a present. Alice. Il est trop difficile, madame, comme je pense.

Kath. Excuses moy, Alice; escoutez: De hand, de fingre, de nails, de arm, de bilbow.

Alice. De elbow, madame.

Kath. O Seigneur Dieu! je m'en oublie; De elbow. Comment appellez vous le col ?

Alice. De neck, madame.

Kath. De neck: Et le menton?

Alice. De chin.

Kath. Desin. Le col, de neck: le menton, de sin. Alice. Ouy. Sauf vostre honneur: en verité, vous prononces les mots aussi droict que les natifs d'Angleterre.

Kath. Je ne doute point d'apprendre par la grace de Dieu; et en peu de temps.

Alice. N'avez vous pas deja oublié ce que je vous ay enseignée ?

Kath. Non, je reciteray à vous promptement. De hand, de fingre, de mails,

Alice. De nails, madame.

Kath. De nails, de arme, de ilbow. Alice. Sauf vostre honneur, de elbow. Kath. Ainsi dis je; de elbow, de neck, et de sin: Comment appellez vous les pieds, et la robe? Alice. De foot, madame; et de con.

Kath. De foot, et de con? O Seigneur Dieu! ces sont mots de son mauvais, corruptible, grosse, et impudique, et non pour les dames d'honneur d'user: je ne voudrois prononcer ces mots devant les Seigneurs de France, pour tout le monde. n faut, de fool, et de con, neant-moins. Je reciterai une autre fois ma leçon ensemble: De hand, de fingre, de nails, de arm, de elbow, de neck, de sin, de foot, de con.

Alice. Excellent, madame !

Kath. C'est assez pour une fois; allons nous a disner. [Exeunt. SCENE V-The same.-Another room in the

same.

Enter the French KING, the DAUPHIN, Duke of BOURBON, the CONSTABLE of France, and others.

Fr. King. 'Tis certain, he hath passed the river Some.

Con. And if he be not fought withal my lord, Let us not live in France; let us quit all, And give our vineyards to a barbarous people.

Dau. O Dieu vivant! shall a few sprays of The emptying of our father's luxury,* [us,Our scions, put in wild and savage stock, Spirt up so suddenly into the clouds, And overlook their grafters? *Lust.

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The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: From the Text of Johnson ..., Band 1